System and method for automatic configuration of portal composite applications

1. A method for automatic configuration of a portal composite application comprising a portal composite application infrastructure, wherein configuration parameters are managed within a composite application interface of the portal, wherein the interface defines a runtime behavior of instances of the composite application within a predetermined range of variability, and wherein each parameter defines a respective point of variability, the method comprising: storing a collection of parameter values for each of the points of variability; defining a policy infrastructure including a plurality of policies cooperating with the composite application via a rules engine and having read access to the collection of parameter values defined by the policies; invoking the rules engine containing a plurality of rules after or at instantiation time of the composite application, in response to an identification of a parameter definition in an application template, for selecting a best matching policy in the policy infrastructure; applying the best matching policy to yield a configuration parameter value; including the configuration parameter value into a control for an instance of the composite application; automatically configuring the instance of the composite application with the included configuration parameter value; updating at least one policy in the policy infrastructure based on an updated parameter value; and updating, in response to the updating of the at least one policy, the rules in the rules engine and the instance of the composite application, to reflect the updated parameter value.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a predetermined policy component provides a value for a respective configuration parameter.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherei the plurality of policies are ordered by a hierarchical category scheme.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein individual policies are put under dedicated and centralized access control protection.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the central access control protection is decoupled from individually affected composite application instances.

6. An electronic data processing system for automatic configuration of a portal composite application comprising a portal composite application infrastructure, wherein configuration parameters are managed within a composite application interface of the portal, wherein the interface defines a runtime behavior of instances of the composite application within a predetermined range of variability, and wherein each parameter defines a respective point of variability, the system comprising: a policy data storage for storing a collection of parameter values for each of the points of variability; a policy infrastructure including a plurality of policies cooperating with the composite application via a rules engine and having read access to the collection of parameter values defined by the policies; a component for invoking the rules engine containing a plurality of rules after or at instantiation time of the composite application, in response to an identification of a parameter definition in an application template, for selecting a best matching policy in the policy infrastructure; a component for applying the best matching policy to yield a configuration parameter value; a component for including the configuration parameter value into a control for an instance of the composite application; a component for automatically configuring the instance of the composite application with the included configuration parameter value; a component for updating at least one policy in the policy infrastructure based on an updated parameter value; and a component for updating, in response to the updating of the at least one policy, the rules in the rules engine and the instance of the composite application, to reflect the updated parameter value.

7. The system according to claim 6 , wherein a predetermined policy component provides a value for a respective configuration parameter.

8. The system according to claim 6 , wherein the plurality of policies are ordered by a hierarchical category scheme.

9. The system according to claim 6 , wherein individual policies are put under dedicated and centralized access control protection.

10. The system according to claim 9 , wherein the central access control protection is decoupled from individually affected composite application instances.

11. A computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium for automatic configuration of a portal composite application comprising a portal composite application infrastructure, wherein configuration parameters are managed within a composite application interface of the portal, wherein the interface defines a runtime behavior of instances of the composite application within a predetermined range of variability, and wherein each parameter defines a respective point of variability, the computer readable medium comprising program code for causing a computer system to: store a collection of parameter values for each of the points of variability; define a policy infrastructure including a plurality of policies cooperating with the composite application via a rules engine and having read access to the collection of the parameter values defined by the policies; invoke the rules engine containing a plurality of rules after or at instantiation time of the composite application, in response to an identification of a parameter definition in an application template, for selecting a best matching policy in the policy infrastructure; applying the best matching policy to yield a configuration parameter value; include the configuration parameter value into a control for an instance of the composite application; automatically configure the instance of the composite application with the included configuration parameter value; updating at least one policy in the policy infrastructure based on an updated parameter value; and updating, in response to the updating of the at least one policy, the rules in the rules engine and the instance of the composite application, to reflect the updated parameter value.

12. The computer program product according to claim 11 , wherein a predetermined policy component provides a value for a respective configuration parameter.

13. The computer program product according to claim 11 , wherein the plurality of policies are ordered by a hierarchical category scheme.

14. The computer program product according to claim 11 , wherein individual policies are put under dedicated and centralized access control protection.

15. The computer program product according to claim 14 , wherein the central access control protection is decoupled from individually affected composite application instances.